“WHAT IS THE CHURCH?” INTRO – A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

“…not forsaking our own assembling together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another…”~ Hebrews 10:25

TO KNOW HOW TO ASSEMBLE, ONE SHOULD WATCH A SMALL GROUP OF CHILDREN ON A LIVING ROOM FLOOR WITH A BOX OF “LEGO” TOYS. WITHOUT BEING TOLD, THEY START SNAPPING THE PIECES TOGETHER UNTIL EVERY LAST ONE HAS BEEN JOINED WITH THE REST.

This book or parts thereof may not be reproduced in any form, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any means-electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise-without prior written permission of the publisher, except as provided by the United States of America copyright law.

“Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE, Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, by the Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.”

“Scripture taken from the HOLY BIBLE, NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSION Copyright 1973, 1978, 1984, International Bible Society. Used by permission of Zondervan Bible Publishers.”

Scripture quotations marked KJV are from the King James Version of the Bible.

Copyright 1998 by Integrity Enterprises

Revised 2009, 2014

Thank you all!

Truly, I am a man of many beginnings. With the Lord’s help I have established many things and with the Lord’s help, I have shut-down many things. This book is comprised of life situations and hundreds upon hundreds of people that are not mentioned by name. Yet, I say thank you to all, because without you this work would have never been written.

Table of Contents:

A note from the Author

One: What is the Church?

Two: The Turning Point Acts 8:1

Three: Buildings, Programs & Disappointments

Four: The Church – Purest “Core” Form

Five: U-Turns Ezekiel and Saul/Paul

Six: The Love of Money, Pride, Image

Seven: A Look at History

Eight: What does the Church Look Like?

Nine: No Order without Government

Ten: The Church & the Kingdom of God

Eleven: Kingdom Government

Twelve: Prototype

Thirteen: Goals, Protocols & Priorities

Fourteen: Buildings and House to House

Fifteen: Get About God’s Business

A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR

EVERY week thousands of members of the body of Christ are sitting at home, confused, hurt, isolated & unassembled. These people know that they love Jesus, but have had a hard time understanding what has been called the “Church.” Most of these folks have walked with Jesus for many years, and have desperately tried to fit inby doing everything that was expected of them. They have served many departments, given of their time & resources, & sat through endless hours of meetings trying to help the Leader in his many decisions. But something was wrong, something was lacking, something was out-of-order and there seemed to be no solution, so they just quietly slipped home & never returned. Perhaps this describes you or someone you know.

For those who have looked at “the Church” and have made a decision not to participate because of all of the abuse, scandals and confusion, “I ask that you would forgive us.” Truly we have not been a good example of who Jesus the Son of the Living God really is. But after today, after reading the truth in these pages, you will no longer have an excuse for not following Jesus. No matter what man has done to you or what you have seen man do to others. Please read on.

My purpose is to give hope to you valuable people at home; you may be closer to the perfect will of God than you know! Even in the sorry condition of the seven churches of Asia, Jesus still referred to them as golden.

Hear these words, Jesus gave his very life for the church and He still considers us valuable containers of His presence! He still calls us friend and His Bride-to-be! However, if a sailing ship was traveling from Cordova Alaska to San Francisco, California, and its navigation was one degree off with no course correction, eventually it would wind up in Chile, South America. Do you see the point? Just one degree off over 4000 miles!

Jesus only mentioned the word church twice in all of his teachings; do you suppose what we have today is what He intended? Or could it be that 2000 years ago, the church got one degree off course and has not only not hit the bull’s-eye, but has missed the target all together? Do we dare ask this question? I did and my findings are frightfully FREEING!

This book is by no means a complete exhaustive theological study on the subject of ‘The Church’, but I do believe by understanding the history, the process and some “real life” experiences, it might help you see a bigger picture. For those of you that have left the church building and haven’t returned, this might answer some of your questions, remove any shame that “well meaning” people have put on you and possibly show you how close to the perfect will of God you might be.

I too have been wounded by what has been called the “Church,” and some of my writings reflect those scars. My intent is not to throw stones, but to reveal my process. This book is written in the order that the information was discovered, much like a journal. You may understand the revelations better if you read it from beginning to end. I pray that you find the information and process as life changing as I did.